NOISE, VENTILATION AND IN RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENTS OVERHEATING

1 INTRODUCTION
_ A working group has been formed by the Association of Noise Consultants (ANC) in response to an
identied urgent need to provide guidance on acoustic conditions and design when considering both
the provision of ventilation and prevention of overheating. The guidance produced by the group will
take the form of a design guide for acousticians. in the rst instance, the design guide will consider
only residential development exposed to. non-actionable, noise sources without specic character.
The need for adequate ventilation is outlined in Approved Document F and designs to achieve this
have beenwell developed. Current Building Regulations for residential development encourage the
improvement of energy efciency through increasing air tightness and thermal insulation. However,
there are no specic requirements relating to overheating in residential dwellings as part of the UK
Building Regulations and the emerging consequence of increasing air tightness and thermal
insulation of dwellings is leading to the potential for excessive temperatures.
The current standard method of cooling a dwelling is either:
- via the opening of a window or other facade element to allow an increase in air ow and
equalisation of temperatures between inside and outside, or
0 via incorporation of mechanical cooling which generally requires space allowance for an
external condensing system. ongoing maintenance (and therefore cost) and is not the
preferred option in terms of energy efciency.
Where a non-acousticaIIy-attenuated opening in the facade (eg. a window) remains the only
provision for prevention of overheating and the dwelling is located in a noisy area. the occupant is
presented with a choice between uncomfortany high noise levels or uncomfortably high
temperatures.
There are currently risks involved which the proposed design guide hopes to reduce. namely:
- health risks for occupants
- design risks for consultants; and
0 legal risks for developers.
This design guide being developed intends to provide:
- an explanation of current denitions of ventilation and overheating;
an indication of potential forms of acoustic criteria that could be used for design;
- examples of design solutions and case studies.
There is presently limited data on criteria and solutions and thus it is envisaged that the design
guide will be an ever-evolving document. to be updated and improved as further information
becomes available. This paper presents an overview of the ventilation, overheating and noise
issues for residential development that will form the basis of the forthcoming design guide.